Lifewriting Classes. Steven Barnes' Free Writing Class!
What follows is, in slightly modified form, the complete text of the 9-week writing class I've taught for years at UCLA. To my knowledge it is the only completely free program of its depth and scope available on the WWW. I would suggest that you download it all, and take the lessons one week at a time, writing your butts off. The information is dense and very, very real. Time-tested and true. Why am I giving this away? If you like it, tell your friends where to find it. And if you want more when you're done with this class, take a look at my Lifewriting for Writers program! Steven Barnes Week One Week Two Week Three Week Four Week Five Week Six Week Seven Week Eight Week Nine.
Handwriting tips. You’ve decided you want to improve your handwriting and you’re probably hoping a fountain pen will do the trick -- maybe a friend told you it would.
Maybe you’re just adventurous and you want to try your hand at calligraphy (or you might, once your handwriting improves). Good for you! A fountain pen may make your writing look a bit better, but if your writing looks as if frenzied chickens got loose on the page, chances are this won’t be enough. Most likely, you’ll need to retrain your arm and hand. After coaching handwriting and teaching calligraphy over the years, I’ve learned to see the characteristics of those who’ll be able to pick up the necessary motions quickly from those who’ll have to work a bit harder. Crampy, uneven letters are often the result of drawing the letters with the fingers rather than using the whole arm to write. People who inevitably have trouble with handwriting and calligraphy write with their fingers. It will take time to re-train muscles and learn new habits. 5 Freewriting Secrets for Being a "Genius".
You've heard of freewriting, certainly. At its most basic, it's about forcing your internal editor to stay away while you splash your most raw and unusual thoughts onto the page. In Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insights, and Content (2nd edition, revised & updated), Mark Levy tells how he uses freewriting, not only to loosen up his writing muscles, but to solve business problems of all kinds. Levy, author, writing teacher, and marketing strategist, shares a few "secrets" for making freewriting an indispensible tool: 5 Freewriting Tips 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Levy elaborates on each of those tips, and many more, using anecdotes from many realms.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Susan K. Prettiest Words: All of Them. 23 Pages. Could Always Use More, Though - StumbleUpon. 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes. I’ve edited a monthly magazine for more than six years, and it’s a job that’s come with more frustration than reward.
If there’s one thing I am grateful for — and it sure isn’t the pay — it’s that my work has allowed endless time to hone my craft to Louis Skolnick levels of grammar geekery. As someone who slings red ink for a living, let me tell you: grammar is an ultra-micro component in the larger picture; it lies somewhere in the final steps of the editing trail; and as such it’s an overrated quasi-irrelevancy in the creative process, perpetuated into importance primarily by bitter nerds who accumulate tweed jackets and crippling inferiority complexes.
But experience has also taught me that readers, for better or worse, will approach your work with a jaundiced eye and an itch to judge. While your grammar shouldn’t be a reflection of your creative powers or writing abilities, let’s face it — it usually is. Who and Whom This one opens a big can of worms. Which and That Lay and Lie Moot Nor.